Certain That I Always Have
by pinkpen23
Summary: Just a short piece of fluff.  There's DH spoilers and it's slightly AU, but only slightly.  Just a small conversation between Ron and Hermione after Ron returns.  ***REVIEW PLEASE***


Hermione sat in her bed in the tent reading. Harry was outside keeping watch, which meant that she was stuck alone in the tent with Ron. She saw him out of the corner of her eye. He kept glancing at her every few seconds. She was determined to keep her expression as cold and as stony as possible.

It had been two days since he had returned and she was not planning on budging any time soon. Ron was getting what he deserved. How could he have left her and Harry? They had almost died while he was gone. How could he have been so selfish? So stupid? The thought of him leaving infuriated her.

She turned the page of her book and caught Ron staring at her again. She groaned audibly and continued reading. He stopped for awhile after that, but started back up again after a few minutes.

Pretty soon, Hermione could not stand it anymore. She slammed her book shut and glared at Ron from across the tent. Ron looked back, appearing terrified.

"Would you stop?" she snapped at him.

"Stop what?" he asked.

"Staring at me every two seconds to see if I'm still upset. News flash Ron: I'm still upset!"

Ron stayed silent for a moment. Hermione became annoyed that he did not have anything to say back to her. She wanted a fight. She wanted to rip him apart like she did two nights before.

"What? You don't have anything to say?" she asked.

"Not really," he replied quietly. "Sorry doesn't seem to be working."

Hermione glowered at him. She had expected him to snap back like he usually did. She had not expected him to submit to her anger. She snapped her head back around and re-opened her book. She tried to read, but could no longer focus. Ron wasn't looking at her anymore; it was something else that was bothering her: guilt.

Hermione knew that Ron was sorry. She knew that harassing him was just going to hurt their friendship, but she couldn't help it. Deep down she felt bad, but she allowed her anger to take control of her.

The two sat in silence for about a half an hour. Ron was flipping through a copy of _The Quibbler _he had found while he ran away. Hermione was still reading, but she could not for the life of her focus. She knew she should apologize, but she hated the thought of admitting defeat so much.

After a while, she finally worked up some courage. She closed the book—this time more softly—and glanced up at Ron. She waited for him to realize that she was staring at him. He noticed quickly and his ears turned red.

"What's up?" he asked tentatively.

Hermione groaned. Not because he was so thick, but because she _hated_ apologizing.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier," she said quickly.

"It's okay," he replied. "I didn't mean to annoy you. I just feel bad…"

"As you should," Hermione replied. The minute she said it, however, she regretted. Why was she so harsh towards him?

"Hermione, I really am sorry. I don't know what else I can tell you. I regret leaving. I know you and Harry suffered while I was gone. I wish I could tell you how bad I feel about it all."

"We really did suffer," she said quietly, more to herself than to him.

He looked at Hermione and had the urge to hold her in his arms. He knew she was still suffering. "I know."

"Ron, I'm scared."

"I know. We've been searching for months, we've only destroyed one Horcrux, and You-Know-Who is getting stronger all the time. It's terrifying."

"Well, yes," Hermione said slowly. "That is scary, but it wasn't what I was referring to."

Ron looked at Hermione with a very perplexed look. If Voldemort taking over the Wizarding World wasn't why Hermione was scared, he did not know why she was.

"Why are you scared?" he asked hesitantly.

Ron then watched as Hermione's eye filled with tears. He wondered if maybe he wasn't supposed to ask that question. Or worse, was he supposed to already know the answer? Merlin knew he was bad at comforting girls, but he knew he had to try. He crossed to Hermione's bed and sat beside her. He awkwardly put his arm around her and she cried into his sweater.

"I'm- I'm scared of lo-losing y-you again," she whisper-sobbed.

"Hermione, I'm not going to leave again, I swear," Ron said. He thought that she knew that.

"No," Hermione said, lifting her head to look at him. "I'm afraid of you dying. Of not making it through this war."

Ron felt every part of his body just stop. He could not believe that she had just said that. Saying it made it a realistic possibility and that scared him. But what scared him even more was that he was thinking the same thing about her. He was terrified of the love of his life dying before this ended.

"Hermione, don't think about that," Ron said softly.

"But it's a reality, Ron. You know that one of us could very well die."

"Then let's agree to stop fighting. Once and for all, let's agree to stop this constant bickering and make the best out of everything going on."

Hermione felt her inside melt when Ron said this. She couldn't be mad at him anymore, not in the least bit. By saying those two simple sentences he had made up for everything mean he ever said.

"Ron—"

"And Hermione," Ron interrupted, "since we're going to stop bickering, there's something I need to tell you something that will maybe help explain, though it won't excuse, my behavior."

Hermione remained silent, so Ron decided to continue. His heart was beating at an insanely fast rate, but he knew he had to say what had been nagging out him from quite some time now.

"Hermione, you-you mean _the world_ to me. The minute I left I realized that I may never see you again and the pain I felt from that was worse than any hex or curse out there. I-I love you. And I'm certain that I always have."

Hermione sat there in shock. On some days, she had suspected that maybe Ron had feelings for her, but on most days, she thought that he just loved her like a sister. Hearing Ron say those three words, Hermione didn't know what to do or say. Her mind shut down.

"Hermione?" Ron asked nervously, after Hermione gave no response.

"Ron, I don't know what to say. I-I love you too. I love you more than I can even describe in words. And I too am certain that I always have."

At that moment, time for both of them stopped. Without thinking twice, Ron pulled Hermione into him and kissed her with more passion than he had ever kissed Lavender Brown. They kissed for a few moments and then let go.

Hermione, flushed in the face, looked up at Ron and smiled. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for that."

**_A/N: Review Please!_**


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